IN "The Thorn Tree" Nella Gardner White presents an intense, prolonged mystery story. The mystery is of human personality and the methods of deduction are patient, sensitive and thorough. But it is a long, rambling trail which leads eventually to discovery of Elspeth Esker's secret.View Full Article in Timesmachine »

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A version of this archives appears in print on April 17, 1955, on Page BR27 of the Sunday Book Review with the headline: A Widow's Burden; THE THORN TREE. By Nella Gardner White. 316 pp. New York: The Viking Press. $3.50. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe